With concerns rising about a possible North Korean long-range missile test, two independent scientists say the regime may be using an old Soviet ballistic missile to boost a rocket capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States. The design of a long-range missile tested last April "represents a very significant advance in rocket technology," said Ted Postol of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [2]and David Wright [3]of the Union of Concerned Scientists, both Ploughshares grantees, in a June 29 assessment published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Using data and imagery from North Korea's April 4 launch, Postol and Wright calculated that the second stage of the North Korean rocket had the external dimensions, engine power and key features of an SS-N 6, a Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile first deployed in 1968. Geoffrey Forden [4], another Ploughshares grantee, sees merit in the Russian missile theory and believes North Korea may have its own production line for SS-N 6 missile components.
Links
[1] https://ploughshares.org/file/945
[2] http://web.mit.edu/stgs/
[3] http://www.ploughshares.org/expert/143
[4] http://www.ploughshares.org/expert/182